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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Hanoi
Ho Chi Minhs house on stilts The Red River Hotel was pretty swanky by our standards and as well as satellite TV, a huge room, mini bar, air con and hot water we also had brekkie and free internet included. After popping over to see the boys at Red River 2 we headed out to see some sights. Hanoi is the craziest place we have ever seen and we all fell in love with it immediately. With a population of 7 million there's an estimated 5 million motorbikes and the way you're supposed to cross the road is to just walk slowly into the line of traffic and pray they miss you!
We made our way over to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which is where many political prisoners and then Amercian Pow's who had been shot down by communists over Northern Vietnam during the war were held. It was pretty horrific, they had photographs of torture and beheadings and tools of torture on display.
Later on the 5 of us headed to the water puppet theatre to see one of the infamous shows. First they sang some traditional Vietnamese folk music before the show began. We were all a bit apprehensive when one decrepit puppet sprang
Stunning
The beautiful Halong Bay out, wobbled around while the band played, then vanished behind the screen again. Though it did get better when fireworks began spraying from the dragon's mouth and the story unfolded. The boys were a bit less impressed - Chris found the high pitched warbling of the Vietnamese music a bit too much so they were both relieved when we got to the first roof top bar of the evening and had the beer Hoi flowing. Derek and his brother rocked up shortly after us as they had arrived in Hanoi the previous day. We then went to a great little bar on the opposite side of town. We bumped into three girls, two of which had been on the trucks in Africa at around the same time, so we all grabbed a table to swap stories. The downside to Hanoi is the drinking hours - the law is that everything shuts around 11.30 - luckily for us, this bar let us stay on for a lock in!
Next morning, slightly the worse for wear, we arose early to get to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. You have to behave extremely respectfully in manner and clothing, and it was quite full
Our boat
What a load of junk! on, you couldn't do anything without one of the guards reaching for their megaphones to shout at you. It was a very strange experience ... there were loads of armed guards inside the building and as we walked through it was silent. 'Uncle Ho', as they call him out here, looked very peaceful, although Becs did come out asking why his face and hands were glowing flourescent orange, and was it something to do with the embalming fluid ... both Jos were confused by this and were adamant that he was just very pasty ... this is still under discussion! We had a wander around the Presidential Palace and the house on stilts which is where Ho Chi Minh lived for a time. We caught a cyclo across town which was pretty funny with 3 of us in it, though not as scary as we had anticipated, and got to the Temple of Literature which was dedicated to Confucious and later established as a university for Mandarins. It had a serene quality inside with lush gardens and pools 'for reflection'!
That evening the boys, as per usual, had found another gem of a bar overlooking the city - they seem
Crazy!
The traffic in Hanoi to have a knack for it - and a restaurant across the road which overlooks the lake and had beaut food. We had a fairly chilled one due to our impending trip to Halong Bay in the morning.
Halong Bay has over 3000 islands arising from the clear emerald waters. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of Vietnams natural wonders. The Santa Maria was an impressive timber junk boat and definitely appreciated! As soon as we set off lunch was served. This was actually the worst part of the journey, Whits and Green opted for veggie rather than the seafood option - there was no correct option! The fried squares of rubber (tofu apparently) and some dubious pink, unidentified substance with a disastrous texture were enough to turn any veggie into a carnivore. This disappointment was quickly forgotten as the weather was beaut and we had soon stripped off, got the speakers and I-pod into action and had commandeered prime positions on the top deck! We got to some caves, which for now we'll call 'Surprise Caves' as we had a slight difficulty in understanding our Vietnamese guides' accent. The caves were brilliant and straight out of
an Indiana Jones movie. We walked the steep steps up and at a certain point it felt like someone had switched on the air con as the air rushed through the narrow opening. The caves were lit with various lights, they were spectacular stalagtite and stalagmite formations as well as a turtle shaped rock which everybody was encouraged to touch on the way out for good luck. On the ceiling there's also special natural effects which look like dragons have been carved into it, this is particularly special as Halong actually means 'When the dragon descends into the sea' and goes back to the traditional tale of how Halong Bay was formed. Later that day we arrived at another island with a pagoda a good half hours climb up the rockside ... true to Brit form we all decided to dodge the climb in favour of basking in the sun listening to Oasis ... disgraceful! There was swimming to be had after and some textbook dive bombing from our Ross!
Dinner was marginally better. Smithers had to duck out early feeling poorly and left the others to play cards - President and Donkey. Paris did make a couple of cock ups and continued to knock when she wasn't supposed to, but surprisingly didn't go to bed being the donkey.
Kayaking started at 7.30 am the next day after a good nights sleep in the 'pimp' cabins. The currents made it a challenging experience, and at one point, Whits and Becs had to put in a supreme effort when they turned to see a huge boat hurtling towards them! The scenery was awesome - we went through a cave to a secret lagoon and chilled there for a while taking in the views! After a few hours, we headed back to Hanoi stopping at a nice restaurant overlooking the islands. We arrived back in the capital at about 5pm, and the guy from the hotel had managed to book us on the 7pm train to Danang - perfect! Greeny headed out to try and get some cash from an ATM, arriving back stressed like never before, having been all over the city with no luck, and having received a pretty nasty electrocution from one particular machine. Between the three of us we had enough money however, and so headed to the station after another stressy few moments, when the taxi didn't arrive til the very last minute. Trying to buy some food in the train station, Smithers also managed to receive a rather nasty electric shock from the nearby fridge. Sadly the train was quite riffy, and nothing like the previous one. Having splashed out on air con we regretted this terribly when we were all awake for most of the night in arctic conditions. Smithers pinched Greeny's sleeping bag and the others were all wearing most of their clothing!
We were woken the next morning by a guy dishing out dubious looking white rolls with pork filling - mmm! Ross burst in seconds later shouting 'the scenery is absolutely amazing!' in a supremely camp fashion! We all sat up and realised he was right! The day was spent in a tedious mix of sleeping, playing cards and wondering when we would arrive. The train conductor said we'd be in Danang by 12.30, we eventually arrived by 4.30 pm.
So Long, Farewell
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